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March 3rd is Hina Matsuri in Japan, a celebration day for girls. Almost every house with girls has a set of hina ningyo dolls with anywhere from one to many multi-levels. Traditional foods eaten on teh day include chirashi-zushi, clam soup and sakura mochi.the dolls that my daughters have are 2 tiered and are in a glass case, my neighbor has 8 tiers and each doll and ornament needs to be set up in the proper space, one by one, she says it takes 3 to 4 hours to set up. Most of the dolls are handmade and thus can be very expensive, the set we have cost close to $2,000, it was bought by my in-laws.

Somehow strawberries have become traditional Hina Matsuri food, and the supermarket today was doing a roaring trade in sponge rolls and cream-filled cakes of all kinds, ready for girls' parties tomorrow.

My husband says that in his day, both boys and girls were invited to parties at girls' houses, but these days that parties seem to be for girls only. (Considering the fragility of the doll sets, I can only rejoice!).

We always have chirashi-sushi (salad style sushi) and a clear clam soup on Hina Matsuri. Our dolls consist of a simple set that I painted myself. We have Boys' Day things, but the boys' grandfather is not the doting kind, so our items are mostly home-made.

Kris, do any of the ingredients used in these traditional girls day dishes have symbolic importance? Why clam soup for instance?

Of course they are symbolic!! and of course I had to do a search on the internet to find out why!! Here is what I found:

Special foods served on Hina Matsuri, for example, include hishimochi, a diamond-shape mochi with green, white and red layers. "The green layer represents the freshness of spring and fertility; the white, winter and purity; and the red, the color of spring flowers," Young said. Other foods traditionally served are clam soups with spring herbs, which represent purity and recognize the new season, and a sweet, mild sake, symbolizing longevity and happiness, that even the girls could partake of.

I didn't make sushi in the end either...son's violin teacher got the bit between her teeth and extended his lesson by an hour...so I bought some sushi on the way home. Son was so tired he cried into his soup, but perked up when he saw the Doll's Day cake I'd bought for dessert.

Symbolism?? Shellfish in Japan usually do symbolize women, in a very...err...intimate way, though most particularly the akagai.

I like making these hina-zushi though...a small ball of sushi rice, with a thin omelet wrapped round it for a kimono, and usually a tiny hard-boiled plover egg for a head. Scroll right down to the bottom of this page for an illustration (the top half is about making your own hina dolls from craft clay).

Hina Matsuri is coming soon....yay!! I really love the Hina Arare, which I first had a few years ago when a friend bought me some.... now I just buy my own

Hina Arare I bought for myself: These are in various flavors including shoyu, chocolate-covered, ginger, furikake, plain, and a pink one i haven't figured out yet (I would guess ume, but ume/plums are not on the ingredients list). These arare are just okay....

On the left is another type of Hina-Arare i bought for myself, I think these are the kind my friend bought for me a long time ago, that I liked (Haven't opened the package yet). Middle and right, Omiyage from MIL's friend who just returned from a trip to Hokkaido.... There are candies or arare inside, but I haven't opened them up yet to find out what kinds.

Kris, do any of the ingredients used in these traditional girls day dishes have symbolic importance? Why clam soup for instance?

Of course they are symbolic!! and of course I had to do a search on the internet to find out why!! Here is what I found:

Special foods served on Hina Matsuri, for example, include hishimochi, a diamond-shape mochi with green, white and red layers. "The green layer represents the freshness of spring and fertility; the white, winter and purity; and the red, the color of spring flowers," Young said. Other foods traditionally served are clam soups with spring herbs, which represent purity and recognize the new season, and a sweet, mild sake, symbolizing longevity and happiness, that even the girls could partake of.

I'd also read somewhere (but am too lazy to hunt down the source) and it stuck in my mind, that the clam soup -- they're tiny clams served in their shells -- represents wishes that the girls will grow up to marry happily because the clams have symmetrical hinged shells, kind of like the Western "two peas in a pod" notion.

We visited Shirokiya today in search of Girls' Days treats, and bought the following assortment:

(The color in the photograph is slightly off under my kitchen fluorescent lights -- the blue wagashi is actually a delicate tint of lilac.) There were several more red-and-green filled cakes like the ones in the center, but they got eaten before I could photograph them!

Most of them were made by Miyakawa in Los Angeles; I didn't see any that had been flown in from Japan (maybe they were already sold!). Strangely enough, I also couldn't find any pastel sugar candies like kompeitou or those pastel rice krispies (do they have a different name?), but they did have some cookies wrapped in cellophane printed to look like kokeshi dolls.

I'd also read somewhere (but am too lazy to hunt down the source) and it stuck in my mind, that the clam soup -- they're tiny clams served in their shells -- represents wishes that the girls will grow up to marry happily because the clams have symmetrical hinged shells, kind of like the Western "two peas in a pod" notion.

Hmmm...shellfish are usually thought to represent women in a more down-to-earth manner...but I note that the shellfish usually used for dolls' festival are not the ones that have the most lewd connotations.

However, allow me to return you to a more elevated plane of discussion...

Today, we are going to celerate Hina Matsuri with:Inari zushi, not chirashi zushi, because my daughter loves the former and won't eat the later.Hamaguri no osuimono (clean soup with clams)StrawberriesCanned peach

Yesterday, I bought both an odairi-sama (emperor) pack and an ohina-sama (empress) pack of "Caramel Corn Hinamatsuri Package" http://tohato.jp/new...ws041224_1.htmlas well as a pack of traditional hina arare.

Suzy Sushi, I've sometimes used a strawberry for the doll's head in place of an egg, but those rice dolls look *so* cute. What a pity we only have boys. I put some kamaboko with doll designs on top of the sushi yesterday, and even my younger son sighed and said, "Mum, just exactly how old do you think we are???".

Hina Matsuri is coming up on Friday, and it's also our last day of Japanese class before Spring Break. I'd like to make something to take in for my classmates and teacher to share, which would also give us the opportunity to ask her about the celebration. I'm not sure what, though! I love sakura mochi (the kind with the grains still visible and the sakura leaf wrapped around), but I'm not sure if I will have time to make those.

I looked at the recipes linked (I love the Kit-Kat dome cake with ice cream... good grief) and still couldn't figure out what to make. Maybe I should just buy some sakura mochi?

Hina Matsuri is coming up on Friday, and it's also our last day of Japanese class before Spring Break. I'd like to make something to take in for my classmates and teacher to share, which would also give us the opportunity to ask her about the celebration. I'm not sure what, though! I love sakura mochi (the kind with the grains still visible and the sakura leaf wrapped around), but I'm not sure if I will have time to make those.

I looked at the recipes linked (I love the Kit-Kat dome cake with ice cream... good grief) and still couldn't figure out what to make. Maybe I should just buy some sakura mochi?

I wonder if your teacher is generous enough to bring you and your classmates some food related to Hina Matsuri...Maybe you could suggest making some dish together...

This is my daughter's hina dolls.We are going to celerate Hina Matsuri with inari zushi, hamaguri soup, and strawberries with whipped cream among others.My wife and I want to make chirashi zushi, but my daughter doesn't like it. She doesn't like sakura mochi, either.

It's still only March 2 here, but tomorrow I think I will have chirashi-zushi for dinner. I asked my teacher if I could bring sakura mochi to class tomorrow and she said that it would be OK, so I just have to see if I can find enough for everyone. There's only one shop here that sells them....

It's still only March 2 here, but tomorrow I think I will have chirashi-zushi for dinner. I asked my teacher if I could bring sakura mochi to class tomorrow and she said that it would be OK, so I just have to see if I can find enough for everyone. There's only one shop here that sells them....

ありがとうございます。

The set of dolls is a present from my father-in-law for my daughter's first sekku (hatsu zekku).

Fortunately the grocery store had a large number of sakura mochi available. I bought the ones that came in a package of four individually-wrapped mochi. Unfortunately I don't have a photo because I forgot to take my camera, but one of my classmates took a photo, so I'll post it if she sends it to me.

I ended up buying 16 mochi, and it only cost me around US$12. So, not so bad. I had a lot of extras, though. It was the last day of classes before spring break, so I guess people didn't show up. So I just took all the extras next door and passed them out to all of our sensei. I couldn't eat more than one - they're too sweet!

I eat the leaf, but many of my classmates removed it. It was a fun day. I still want chirashi sushi for dinner but my boyfriend is returning from a business trip and he doesn't like it, so it might have to wait until tomorrow.

All of your children can eat myoga? Neither of my kids likes it. I can't complain because I didn't like it either when I was small.

Good-looking shortcake! Is it a typical American shortcake? What is that at the bottom that looks like anko?

My daughters both ate it but my son doesn't like it.

I would say it is fairly typical American shortcake but a chocolate version. The anko looking thing on the bottom is another piece of shortcake. I would have prefered more strawberries but they were really expensive and I only bought one container.